True Wealth
by Kelly of the midnight dawn
Summary: There are some things that Scrooge McDuck cherishes more than his wealth and sometimes that scares him, especially when he thinks of what he'd put on the line to protect those cherished things... Rated for safety.
1. Chapter 1

**True Wealth**

**Chapter 1: **

**Disclaimer: I do not own DuckTales.**

**A/N: This is my first DuckTales story ever so be kind. I've read some really good DuckTales stories but not a lot of them are finished.**

Scrooge McDuck was a wealthy duck. In monitory terms, he was the Wealthiest duck in the world. Scrooge had a great deal of love for his money but there was something in his life that was worth more to him than all of it (though he'd never admit this to anyone with whom he had business dealings), his nephews: Huey, Dewey and Louie.

The three fine little lads had brought sunshine and joy to his otherwise miserly existence. They had melted a hardened heart that had been frozen for far, far too long and he thanked God every day for that. He loved and cherished his dear nephews. He loved and cherished them so deeply that at times it frightened him to think what he would do, what he would give, to keep them safe.

For a reforming miser like Scrooge, who had spent the majority of his adult life (more years than he now cared to remember as his humanity and compassion grew bit by bit) the prospect of caring so deeply for any living creature, let alone three rambunctious and often danger prone wee lads was downright terrifying.

But somehow it was a beautiful kind of terrifying. The sort of feeling that parents have for their children, Scrooge thought; the way he'd feel if he hadn't wasted his life on selfish endeavors and had fathered children of his own.

Those selfish endeavors however were responsible for the greater part of his fortune. To have his fortune and the boys was then the best of both worlds for Scrooge.

XXX

"Hurry up Uncle Scrooge!" Huey cried out as he and his two identical brothers raced on ahead of their uncle along Duckburg Pier towards the waiting cruise ship.

"Bless me bagpipes, slow down boys," Scrooge panted, as he attempted to keep up with them while lugging the bags. "Now I know yer excited," he began as he finally managed to catch up them at the base of the ship's gangplank "But that's no reason to go running about like that."

The boys had good reason to be excited and Scrooge had to admit that he was too for McDuck Industries had recent acquired a cruise line and to celebrate (as well as to get a firsthand look at his latest business venture) Scrooge had decided that the family would take a two week vacation to the Caribbean.

Mrs. Beakly and Webby had stayed behind to watch the mansion, the former having a general objection to the hygiene standards of all cruise ships and the latter subject to her grandmother's will. And Launchpad was bedridden from a particularly nasty case of hay fever. So it was to be just Scrooge and the boys on this trip.

"Welcome aboard The Indigo Diamond," a young mallard dressed in a uniform greeted them at the top of the gangplank "The star of Roo... I mean McDuck Cruise lines. I'm Tony Rookery, I'll be seeing to your every need while you're on board."

"Rookery," Scrooge remarked "You must be the former owner's son," he said finally as realization hit him.

"Yes Sir," the young man answered immediately.

Huey, Dewey and Louie hung their heads at this. Huey as usual, spoke first. Raising his head and stepping forward he plead on behalf of his family "Please don't be mad at Uncle Scrooge?"

Tony smiled kindly at the red clad duckling and patted the boy's head reassuringly "I promise I'm not mad," he told the boy "I'm actually relieved that your Uncle Scrooge bought the cruise line."

"You are?" this time it was Dewey who had piped up. All three ducklings and even Scrooge looked surprised at Tony's admission.

"Yeah," Tony confirmed as he showed Scrooge and the boys to their suite "You see, my father inherited this cruise line from my grandfather and my father wanted me to follow in his footsteps and work my way up in the family business. But that's not what I want."

"Well what do you want?" asked Huey, his tone filled with curiosity.

"I wanna be a doctor," Tony said reverently "And thanks to you Mr. McDuck I'm off the hook with my dad and we have plenty of money so I can go to medical school," he beamed brightly "This is my last cruise actually, in two weeks I start my new life in Saint Canard." Just as Tony finished his story they arrived at their room. Tony unlocked the door for them before handing the key to Scrooge.

"There are complimentary snacks in the fridge, dinner is at five thirty in the main dining room– oh here's a map of the ship," he hastily withdrew a folded paper from the breast pocket of his uniform and handed it to Scrooge "and just dial 323 on the phone if you need anything, that's the service extension, just ask for Tony when you call and I'll be here as quick as you please. I'll just let you folks get settled." Tony turned and left.

Huey and Dewey immediately rushed off to explore the suite but Louie stayed behind, taking a seat at a table and looking glum.

Scrooge sat himself down beside the boy "What's the matter lad?" he questioned "Don't you want to lay your claim on the best bed before your brothers do?"

Louie shook his head and sighed "Uncle Scrooge," he began, sounding quite downhearted but his young mind couldn't find the words to express his complicated feelings about being one of a matched set of ducklings. He pushed his palms against his eyes. He never used to have a problem with looking just like his brothers or sounding like them or that they basically did everything together or even that from time to time he was mistaken for one of them.

Scrooge dropped a wing around the youngster's shoulders "I'm not a mind reader Louie," he said softly.

Louie looked up at his Uncle as the sounds of rambunctious laughter drifted through the main room of the compartment.

"Sounds like they've gotten themselves into a pillow fight," Scrooge observed with a soft smile at his forlorn nephew.

Louie looked in the direction of the bedrooms briefly before he turned his gaze to his Uncle Scrooge "I don't know if I wanna be a triplet anymore," he said simply.

Scrooge laughed in spite of himself at the little lad's statement. He tried to stop himself from doing so because he could see the complete seriousness in Louie's face. The burst of unbidden laughter faded quickly when he saw Louie's face go from serious to miserable. "Ach, I'm sorry lad," he began "I didna mean to laugh but there isn't much you can do about the fact. You came into this world with two identical brothers and that's just the plain truth of it."

Louie hung his head "So people will always mistake me for one of my brothers?" he asked sadly.

Scrooge picked up the boy then and placed the duckling on his lap "Louis Montague Duck," he said purposefully using the boy's full name "You are an individual no matter if you hatched with twenty identical brothers."

Louie nodded but his expression didn't appear to change. He looked as though he was about to say something when his brothers burst into the room.

"Louie!" Huey cried out

"You have to come see the rooms!" Dewey insisted.

Huey and Dewey each grabbed one of Louie's wings and dragged him off with them. Scrooge couldn't help smiling when he saw some of Louie's usual excitement returning as his brother's pulled him towards the bedrooms.

XXX

Elsewhere on the ship two shadowy individuals were concocting a rather devious scheme while the oblivious passengers carried on happily around them. The two sat at a small table on the aft deck of the ship, sipping at cocktails. The first, a well dressed Doberman with small tufts of grey dotting his otherwise dark fur, sipped at a gin and tonic while his companion, a tall female duck with long wavy blond hair and dressed in an elegant dress, took a tiny sip of a glass of expensive white wine.

"Can you confirm that McDuck is on board?" the Doberman asked of his cohort.

"Yes," she responded in a rather thick French accent "I saw him and the three boys when they came on board. Rookery's son didn't even notice me as he was busy running his mouth."

The Doberman chuckled "That boy is an idiot. But it's a good thing he didn't see you. He'd have tipped Scrooge off right away."

"Armand, do you believe he would have recognized us?" the elegant French duck inquired "It has been five years since we've seen the boy."

"Ah Gisela," Armand laughed with an odd air of mirth considering the circumstances "We held a gun to the head of a mother of a thirteen year old boy's mother. I doubt that he would forget out faces. So make sure that you're careful tonight. If we pull this off we'll be set for life."

Gisela finished her glass of wine and smiled "Oh Scrooge McDuck, we are going to destroy you," she and Armand laughed quite heartily at their ingenious scheme.

XXX

That night Tony met Scrooge and the boys just outside their suite and escorted them to the main dining room. Louie was in much better spirits than he had been earlier that day and was really trying to enjoy himself. The boys finished eating their dinner early and borrowed the map of the ship from their uncle so they could find their way to the video arcade. Scrooge sat at the table talking to Tony. Scrooge found that he was fast becoming fond of the young man.

"Saint Canard has one of the finest medical schools in the country," Scrooge remarked.

Tony nodded "I'm very eager to get there and begin my studies," he told Scrooge.

"I'm sure you'll do fine lad," Scrooge raised his glass of water to emphasize his statement.

The sun was just setting and the walls of windows that surrounded the main dining room were open as were the many skylights above the rows of tables. The sky appeared clear and the sunset was truly breathtaking; when suddenly dark clouds obscured the beautifully painted pink and orange tones of the sunset. A massive wind picked up, coming through the open windows and doors and extinguishing every candle in the dining room. Enormous drops of rain began pelting the guests as waves caused the boat to rock violently.

"Bless me bagpipes," Scrooge exclaimed as he stood up with the intention of finding the boys. He was already out the door of the dining room before he remembered that the boys had the map and when he turned around Tony had already disappeared to help the other members of the crew batten down the hatches.

XXX

Gisela stood up stood up off the floor where a particularly violent toss of the ship had landed her. She huffed indignantly and smoothed out her dress. She'd been trailing Scrooge's nephews since they'd left the dining room while Armand had stayed behind to keep an eye on Scrooge.

The boys had been playing video games in the arcade for the last half hour and Gisela was getting so very bored watching them "When is Armand gonna call with the rendezvous place for Wolf and the chopper?" she muttered to herself.

Just then, as if in response to her words her phone began to vibrate. She answered it without hesitation "Tell me we'll be out of here soon?" she begged of her partner in crime.

"Wolf can't get the chopper in close enough in this weather," Armand informed her "And McDuck is headed to find his nephew's now. You'd better get out of there."

"Are you kidding?" Gisela asked, infuriated "Now get here and help me grab these kids."

"It's not happening tonight," Armand told her sternly "It's off until further notice."

Gisela huffed again "Very well," she muttered as she hung up her phone. She thrust it back in her pocket with such force that it bounced out and fell to the floor without her noticing.

XXX

Louie had lost three times in a row to Dewey and had lost all his quarters trying to win something in the claw machine. Without any money left for games he wandered off to do some exploring of the ship on his own. He noticed a lady duck drop her phone. It didn't seem as if she'd noticed it fall. Louie quickly picked it up and scampered after the woman intending to return it to her.


	2. Chapter 2

**True Wealth**

**Chapter 2:**

Gisela LeScam despised children. There was nothing more painful to her than having to keep track of those three brats and she was absolutely relieved beyond words when she could put them out of her mind. Even with the storm rocking the ship back and forth and the fact that she would inevitably have to go back to tailing those little wretches, she was glad that she could at least put it out of her mind for the time being.

So imagine her surprise when one of those very brats scampered up beside her "Excuse me Miss," he said politely.

"What?" she asked, harshly as she turned to look down upon the duckling.

"You dropped this," Louie said, offering her a friendly smile as he held her phone out to her.

"Thanks," Gisela said curtly as she saw Armand coming around the corner. She hurried to meet him, only sparing a quick glance over her shoulder to be sure that the boy had gone his own way.

As she reached her partner in crime the ship gave a great heave and sent them both into the nearest wall. Armand, being the gentleman that he was caught Gisela just short of bumping her head. Once the two had righted themselves Gisela couldn't help but complain.

"I can't take another day of watching those kids," she hissed "When I see Wolf I'll strangle him for putting us in this situation."

"It's not Wolf's fault," Armand reminded her "This weather is dangerous enough for the ship let alone a helicopter."

"I don't care," Gisela pouted, smoothing out her dress.

"You need to be realistic Gisela," Armand explained "Sometimes things like this take time. Especially in the face of unpredictable and severe weather."

"Realistic," Gisela huffed "Did you see how close that one was to me just now when he was returning my phone?"

"We need the complete set Gisela," Armand smiled "While I'm sure old feather bag would pay dearly for even just one of those boys he's sure to pay more for all three."

Gisela pouted again but said nothing.

XXX

Scrooge had rounded up Huey and Dewie and was now frantically looking for Louie, while keeping the other two boys close to him. The boys too were desperate to find their brother.

"He was right there playing video games with us," Huey said distraughtly "He was, I know he was!" Huey, as the oldest of the triplets, felt a sort of responsibility to keep his two brothers in line even though only mere minutes separated them in age.

Scrooge patted the boy's shoulder "I know Huey," he said, attempting to reassure the boy "Don't worry, we'll find him."

And sure enough, around the next corner they did. Scrooge scooped the boy up in his wings "Where were ye lad. Ye had us worried sick you did."

Huey and Dewie practically assaulted their brother with hugs "Louie!" they both screamed in relief.

"Now boys," Scrooge said after a moment of letting the relief wash ove them "We'd best be getting to our room to wait out the storm."

Scrooge wasted no time in guiding the boys through the ship's corridors and back to their room. Occasionally the ship was hit with a particularly violent wave that sent the group tumbling and required them to regroup afterwards. It was when they were nearly at their room that yet another one of these violent waves struck the ship. This wave set the ship on a ninety degree angle for a full second, sending Scrooge and the boys tumbling down a corridor that led to the open deck.

Scrooge attempted to right himself and reached out for the boys as the ship too found its own equilibrium. Scrooge looked down to see the churning sea beneath him. He looked up to see that he was just barely hanging on to the ships railing and he had just managed to catch Louie's hand with his free one.

Huey and Dewie were thankfully on the ship side of the railing and were staring wide eye at their uncle and their brother. Dewie opened his beak as though he was going to say something but words failed him. Huey stared in shock and found himself overcome with a feeling of absolute helplessness.

"I'm coming!" a voice shouted over the storm and before the two boys standing on the deck knew what was happening, Tony Rookery was on the scene. He managed to pull Louie aboard with ease. The duckling was shivering from the rain and sea spray. Scrooge came over the railing next and once he was settled with his feet firmly on the deck he heartily shook Tony's hand.

"Thank ye lad," he said sincerely as he managed to catch his breath.

Tony escorted them back to their suite "The storm should be over soon," he explained "One of those freak squals that often dies down just about as quickly as it springs up."

"Thank you Tony," Scrooge said as soon as he and the boys had stepped inside their suite. Tony bid them a good night and Scrooge turned to the boys "You'd best be getting out of those wet clothes and into some dry pajamas," he told them.

Louie and Dewie sped off to get out of their wet clothes but Huey lagged behind. Scrooge took notice of the look on the boy's face "What's troubling you lad?" he questioned as he knelt down to the boy's level.

The red clad ducking shook his head "We've been through a lot of stuff," he began "But when you and Louie fell over the side of the ship… I… I froze up and didn't know what to do…"

Scrooge pulled the boy into a tight hug "Now, now lad," he soothed "We'd have been alright. I wouldn't let anything happen to you boys and I wasn't about to let myself go falling into that ocean," even as he assured the boy, Scrooge knew that if Tony hadn't come along, they would have been done for. Scrooge had been feeling his grip on Louie slipping in those terrifying moments before Tony arrived on scene and he dreaded the thought of watching the boy drop into the ocean below. He did not doubt for a moment that he would have gone in after him but what then would become of Huey and Dewie? Would the boys have the sense to stay aboard the ship and go for help or would they too jump in after their brother and uncle? It was thoughts like these that kept Scrooge up at night.

Huey nodded and gave his uncle another quick hug and a half smile before scampering after his brothers. He entered the room he was sharing with his two brothers to see Louie and Dewie, already in their pagamas, embroiled in a spirited pillow fight. Huey hasted to change so that he could join his brothers in battle.

Scrooge stood in the main room, watching the ocean through one of the portholes. The storm was in fact settling down. As the storm outside settled down, the storm inside the cabin was intensifying.

"I GIVE UP!" Dewie screeched as he ran into the room, nearly bowling over his uncle as his brothers barraged him with pillows.

Scrooge couldn't help but laugh as he armed himself and Dewie with cushions from the couch "Don't give up so easily lad!" he yelled gleefully "Let's make this a fair fight, shall we boys?"

Between Dewie and Scrooge they managed to put up a good defense against Huey and Louie's oncoming attacks. Twenty minutes later the four lay on the floor in a heap of pillows, laughing uncontrollably.

Scrooge reached for his fallen hat and sat up, finally managing to catch his breath. Scrooge began putting pillows and cushions back in their proper places. Once he had cleaned up the living area he sank onto the sofa and his nephews gathered around him.

Huey sat on Scrooge's left side, Dewie on his right and Louie sat in his uncle's lap. The boys were still laughing over the pillow fight. When the laughter died down completely Scrooge looked at the clock.

"Well lads, it's about your bedtime," he informed them.

"Aww, Uncle Scrooge," all three replied in unison.

"Now boys," Scrooge stood up and patted each of them on the head in turn "I won't have any argument. Off to bed."

The three obedient boys marched off to their room and climbed into their beds. Scrooge smiled softly as he tucked each of them in. "Good night lads. We'll play again tomorrow." He turned off the light and left the room; leaving the door open just a crack for the boys.

XXX

The next morning Scrooge and the boys awoke and headed to the main dining room. The place was a mess from the storm the night before. The skylights and windows were all closed and some tables and chairs were still askew. The staff, though frazzled from the activity the night before, were more than willing and able to take care of the passengers' needs.

During breakfast Dewie noticed Tony on the other side of the dining room and waved to him "Hey Tony!" the boy called out.

Tony, who had just finished re-hanging a fallen chandelier, waved to the group and came over "Hey guys," he smiled "How are you doing this morning?"

"Great!" Huey replied eagerly, after the reassuring words of his uncle and a good night's sleep he did indeed feel much better than he had the previous night.

Tony smiled and turned to Louie who was pushing his scrambled eggs around his plate "How about you Louie?" he asked.

"Yeah," Louie answered though a bit less enthusiastically than his brother had. He had been plagued by nightmares the previous evening. In his nightmares he had actually fallen into the churning sea below. Uncle Scrooge had been about to jump in after him but at that moment the ship completely disappeared, leaving Louie all alone in the middle of the ocean.

Scrooge, sensing that there was some sort of uneasiness in the silence that followed Louie's reply, chose that moment to speak up "We thought we'd check out the swimming pool today," he informed Tony.

Unfortunately at the next table Gisela and Armand were intently listening in while pretending to be interested in the morning paper. As soon as they heard the plans of Scrooge and his nephews, Armand tugged gently on Gisela's dress and rose from the table. Gisela waited the full minute that was expected of her before she followed her partner.

"Wolf's going to be here at four," Armand informed her.

"We'd better figure out some way to separate McDuck from the flock," Gisela reasoned.

"Leave that to me," Armand replied with a sly grin "You just make sure that you grab those kids."

"I'll do my part," Gisela promised "Just make sure Wolf does his."

XXX

Wolfred Clawson was a tall, muscular, imposing specimen of a creature with a large impressive snout and a mouth full of gleaming white, razor sharp teeth. His eyes were great steel gray orbs that were often cold and emotionless in appearance but sometimes softened when he found himself touched by some minor circumstance or another.

He was an accomplished pilot and a mercenary, willing to do anything as long as he was paid. Sometimes the lengths that he would go to for a quick buck sickened even him. This was one of those occasions. As Wolf hovered in the sky with the cruise ship in view just below he wondered just what he was doing there.

If only there had been another storm, another excuse not to be here at this time… But Armand had been insistant and had paid quite a great deal of money with the promise of more to come if they pulled this off. Wolf gritted his teeth. There was no getting out of it or turning back. Besides if he backed out now, there would be more than just Armand and Gisela to deal with. Armand's bosses were nothing to be sneezed at and would certainly make him regret it if he chickened out now.

A voice emitted from his radio. "Where are you?" it was Armand "Five minutes 'til we need to be out of here."

Wolf picked up the radio "Roger that, coming in now. Rendezvous on the sky deck." Wolf replaced the radio and descended towards the ship, just hoping that the job that lay ahead wouldn't turn ugly, for the sake of those boys.

**A/N: Next chapter will have some more family fun before the plot really takes affect. Please review?**


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